Wal-Mart deserves a chance

For those of you against Wal-Mart coming, please look again. Think for just a moment about what you are saying. You say this store will drive out local merchants. What local merchants? From what I’m seeing, the new store will have groceries, so they will be “competing” against, Safeway and IGA, both of which are across the country. It will have crafts, so will be “competing” against Kenai Fabric, which mostly has different designs of cotton, is well established with a loyal customer base and also offers sewing classes.

It will have kitchenware, Allen and Peterson is another one across the country. It will have video games and electronics. I’ve heard that people are worried about Dan’s TV, but Sears isn’t hurting them — not to mention Kmart started out with appliances and quickly stopped selling them.

I heard it’s going to have a gas station. What’s one more? We already have several.

It will have pet items, sporting goods, bath wares, linen, pharmaceuticals, toys and most important for me, children’s clothing. There is no where in Kenai to get that stuff.

Need I remind you Kmart was a wonderful thing for this town and was never replaced? True, we can get all of those items at Fred Meyer — another national store, but those of us in Kenai and Nikiski will be happy to only go down the street and find a better price.

Crystal Trickel

Kenai